Night of Despair-Chapter 192 - : Deterioration 190

Chapter 192: Deterioration 190

“The intensity of the Black Disaster is rising once again. You mentioned earlier that we couldn’t sit idle, right?” Yu Hong quickly said.

“Of course, I’ve already assembled a specialized Blood Attraction Force to investigate the ruins at various source points. Hmm… the third team has already set out,” Zhang Kaijun replied coldly.

“I have two people here. Combined with your team, could we break through the Black Disaster Rift? We’ll advance together and meet at the midpoint,” Yu Hong suggested.

“Sure. Once we open it up, if we have your technical support, our success rate will be even higher,” Zhang Kaijun stated calmly, “The current intensity of the Black Disaster has left only two surviving outposts around us. I’m starting to have no choice but to recruit people from the isolation zone for reinforcement. If the Black Disaster escalates further, Gray City certainly won’t be able to hold. It’s surprising that you’re still fine up till now.”

“….. All right, let’s determine the meeting point now.” Yu Hong quickly unfolded the map, starting to discuss while deliberately skipping his own safety.

This time, he planned to buy extraction liquid, sunlight materials, and other supplies from Gray City. Once fortified with Black Marks, they might become more effective consumables, enhancing adaptability in the Black Disaster.

For instance, if he let the Black Lizard carry the extraction liquid and leave, it should attract a significant amount of the Black Disaster away from its original location.

Compared to sacrificing the Blood Attraction Force, the Black Lizard could constantly regenerate.

Of course, the most crucial point was that the increasing intensity of the Black Disaster had begun to feel dangerous to him.

If this trend continued, perhaps only he would be able to rely on the Black Mark to survive in the future world.

And such a world was not what he wanted.

He wouldn’t sacrifice his core interests for others, but he could support the investigation team through transactions.

Soon, they pinpointed the meeting spot on the map.

After closing the communication, Yu Hong left the cave and informed Xue Ningning of the mission.

“Gray City’s biotechnology can divert Black Disaster attacks, with a higher survival rate. They’re also organizing investigation teams to explore the reason for the Black Disaster’s increasing intensity. So, you can fully cooperate with them to avoid redundant investigations and waste of manpower,” Yu Hong advised.

“Okay.” Xue Ningning was not a stubborn person and agreed immediately, taking the map to verify the location.

That night, after enduring the Black Hour, the two women set out the next morning, carrying the detectors and food supplies borrowed from Yu Hong, and headed toward the direction of the map’s meeting point.

As for himself, he donned the suit again. Taking advantage of the Black Mark’s ongoing fortification and armed with the Wolf Fang Club, he left the camp.

With so much time passed, the surrounding revived Black Disaster needed to be cleared out again. And what was the deal with the Speed Man blending in with so many shadows before? Could it be that high-risk Black Disasters had started to collude with ordinary shadows? These needed investigating.

In the gray-black mist, the trees of the mountains became faintly visible, and visibility was about five or six meters.

Yu Hong, dressed in the heavy White Bear suit, took a step forward, leaping more than ten meters as if flying low over the ground.

He was circling the camp, expanding his travel radius.

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Before long, the fog in front of him cleared, revealing a man in a white suit.

The man tilted his head, glanced at the approaching Yu Hong, and grinned with an eerie smile, about to speak.

Poof.

With a light sound, the man’s entire upper body suddenly vanished. The remaining body turned into black smoke and disintegrated.

Yu Hong increased his speed, and shadowy figures of wandering shades began appearing in the mountain forest mist ahead.

Poof, poof, poof, poof.

His figure flickered, suddenly flashing past these shadows. The Wolf Fang Club, imbued with Inner Qi, lightly touched them, smashing their bodies.

Soon, ten minutes passed.

Yu Hong paused, looking at a woman in a yellow dress beneath a large tree ahead.

‘Level Eight Speed Man, that’s her!’

He took a deep breath. This was his first time encountering a Speed Man alone outside. Before, relying on an array, the opponent was nowhere near his level.

But now, without the array as the main force…

Swish!

The ground suddenly burst open with a small pit as Yu Hong charged forward.

With Inner Qi exploding, it instantly saturated his legs and the Wolf Fang Club.

Boom!!

The tree trunk shattered as the Speed Man’s laughter mixed with a ghastly snicker sounded at the same time.

Half a minute later.

Sweating all over, Yu Hong remained calm, dragging his body with only three strands of Inner Qi left, quickly returning to the camp.

Of the Radiation Hand Grenades on him, only three remained. And the Black Disaster surrounding the camp had been completely cleared.

After completing these, Yu Hong once again went to the south side of the camp, to the place where he found the wooden bridge before.

Standing at the edge of the stream, he picked up the Atomic Lamp to shine it forward but found nothing.

The stream remained a stream, with no wooden bridge or prior figures in sight.

Exhaling softly, Yu Hong felt a sense of relief.

*”It’s better this way. Without the array fully handling the Black Hour, it’s best not to add new troubles….”* he thought.

The figure on the wooden bridge gave him a particularly dangerous feeling.

But the other side seemed to be blocked by something, unable to truly approach, and could only stay on the bridge.

*”It seems it’s only visible during the Black Hour, so as long as I don’t get near, the danger isn’t significant.”*

Yu Hong concluded, turning back, since the camp’s array was almost fortified. His next step was to strengthen the Black Lizard.

Considering the Black Disaster’s various mysterious abilities, he decided that avoiding close encounters and resolving battles from afar would be wise in the future.

In this regard, the Black Lizard became extremely important.

Leaving the stream, he hadn’t gone far when he suddenly stopped.

No, something was off!

A thought struck his mind like a jolt of electricity.

Quickly turning back, he rushed to the stream’s edge, crouched down, and inspected the traces.

Soon, an astonishing hypothesis formed in his mind.

*”This stream has moved about ten meters closer to the camp compared to before!”*

To ascertain this hypothesis, Yu Hong crossed the stream to check the other side and found traces of flowing water on the ground there.

Standing by the stream, his expression turned serious.

*”Hopefully, it’s just a coincidence….”* he pondered.

With constant rain, watercourses changing direction was a possibility.

Glancing at the detector, finding nothing else, Yu Hong took a last deep look at the temporarily formed stream and turned back to camp.

*

*

*

The next day.

The array fortification completed, a slight flash emerged and blurred for a moment on the camp’s ground before everything settled.

Witnessing this, Yu Hong felt a slight sense of safety.

He reached the outer courtyard, and with a thought, a cat-dog-sized black giant lizard jumped in from outside the fence.

The Black Lizard lay on the damp grass, motionless.

Yu Hong extended his hand, placing the leftover bones he picked up from the Insect Man on the Black Lizard’s back, palm pressed against it, silently chanting in his mind.

‘Strengthen the Black Lizard.’ He didn’t specify a direction because he was unsure of the effect of the Insect Man bones. If the direction he provided didn’t meet the pre-requisite foundation requirements, the strengthening would fail.

Thus, the quickest way was to let the Black Mark fortify randomly.

Without providing a direction, the Black Mark would automatically strengthen based on the compound randomly.

‘Whether to strengthen the Black Lizard?’ The Black Mark asked as expected, a black line flashing.

The countdown appeared: 2 days 11 hours 9 minutes.

‘Yes.’

Yu Hong glanced at the countdown. The length of the countdown indicated the extent of the fortification. A duration of just over two days was acceptable.

If it was too long, it would delay his other plans.

Soon, the Black Lizard flashed slightly, motionless on the spot, its back’s dark red countdown beginning automatically.

Having done all this, Yu Hong swiftly returned to the cave, closed the heavy and sturdy door, and awaited the Black Hour.

He planned to test if, after enhancing the total reserves, those gray soldiers could still breach the array.

Utilizing the waiting time, he continued training the Thunderbolt Leg Technique in the basement. The technique was at the Fifth Layer, soon reaching the final Sixth Layer. Achieving Perfection in the Sixth Layer would grant a special Thunderbolt Transformation state.

He was eagerly anticipating this.

Amidst the rapidly escalating Black Disaster intensity outside and the decreasing number of survivors, possibly only the most robustly fortified outposts might remain.

Like Gray City, like the New Aurora City—other outposts might perish.

He believed he could currently keep up with the protection measures of large outposts, but if the Black Disaster further intensified,…

The needed defensive strength would be even greater.

After practicing a cultivation technique for a while, gathering two strands of Inner Qi, he took a shower and returned to the first layer to activate the communicator.

Keeping in touch with Zhang Kaijun daily was crucial for him to stay informed about the external situation.

“Your people have been found at the meeting point,” Zhang Kaijun was direct when Yu Hong came online.

“The source of the East River is at Black Tree Village, correct?” Yu Hong asked.

“Yes. I dispatched three teams to Black Tree Village. Not just me, both New Aurora Cities have sent elite squads for investigation. Utilizing the Black Hour’s safe rift routes, they’re faster than us, primarily taking aerial routes straight there by helicopter,” Zhang Kaijun stated calmly.

“Once we converge and consolidate our routes, when can we trade?” Yu Hong inquired. If the Black Lizard had extraction liquid, it could significantly extend his exploration range.

When confronting numerous Black Disasters, he wouldn’t need to engage head-on, increasing consumption. Instead, just sacrificing a Black Lizard could divert them.

“The freelance merchants I sent out have already set off and should arrive tomorrow if all goes well. I brought a batch of luminous stones that you urgently need, and I need to trade for Vortex Talisman Plates, preferably with Radiation Hand Grenades,” Zhang Kaijun replied.

“Agreed,” Yu Hong responded. “How’s it on your end now?”

“A sudden ambush by the Black Disaster, codename gray soldiers. Over a hundred people died two nights ago, but after instituting new regulations, we managed to avoid further incidents,” Zhang Kaijun recounted coldly, “I bombed the area around the city walls with luminous stone bombs, forming a negative-value isolation zone, then moved everyone inside to the underground Pyroxene Secret Room. Outside, we used drones to fly extraction liquid far away, luring away the majority of the Black Disaster. It’s safe now.”

“The people from the isolation zone…?” Yu Hong asked.

“No idea,” Zhang Kaijun coldly replied. “Maybe they’re all dead.”

Disconnecting the communication left Yu Hong feeling inexplicably heavy. He suddenly had a premonition that Zhang Kaijun’s side might not hold out much longer…

Thinking of Li Rushan and his daughter over there, Ding Shao, Doctor Xu, and the still-missing Stammering Yiyi.

He softly exhaled.

*”All forces sending people to investigate this time… hopefully, there will be results.”*

If nothing came from this investigation, the remaining cities would be in grave danger….

Thud.

Thud.

Thud!

Suddenly, heavy footsteps sounded distantly outside.

Yu Hong’s expression changed slightly. He quickly rushed to the passage entrance, opened the observation window, and looked outside.

It was pitch black outside, nothing visible.

The only thing heard was the enormous heavy footsteps, one after another, from far to near, and gradually from near to far.

Finally, it disappeared completely in the thick darkness.

*”Has a super-large high-risk Black Disaster finally appeared?!”* Yu Hong felt his mood weighed down.

He suddenly realized that the stone castle outside might shatter like tofu under a crash from such a super-large Black Disaster.

Only the multiply fortified cave safehouse might hold out for a while.